The ghost net and the boardshort

A piece of waste that kills the sea can become a piece you wear to go back into it.

They're called ghost nets: abandoned or lost at sea, they keep trapping wildlife for decades. ECONYL, a process from manufacturer Aquafil, regenerates the nylon from these nets and from old carpets into new yarn, recyclable in a closed loop, with a clear energy saving against virgin nylon.

That is the material of the RIOT BREAK boardshort. Not as a pose, as logic: the same nylon that was smothering a reef ends up as a piece cut for cold water. The story isn't pretty, it's just true.

What recycled doesn't fix

Let's be clear: a boardshort in regenerated nylon is still a synthetic. It sheds microfibers in the wash. That's why we wash it rarely, in a bag, and keep it a long time. A piece kept ten years always beats a perfect piece replaced every season.

Recycling isn't absolution. It's a lesser evil chosen with eyes open. Saying otherwise would be greenwashing, and greenwashing we leave to others.